Municipal Boundary Battles

Municipal Boundary Battles
Author: Sandeep Agrawal
Publisher: University of Alberta
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2024-09-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1772127876

Municipal Boundary Battles explores the motivations, land use effects, and financial implications of municipal boundary adjustments across Canada, focusing mainly on annexations and amalgamations—the most frequent means to adjust boundaries and reform local governments in this country. With a focus on mid-size cities and small towns rather than major Canadian metropolitan areas, the authors uncover hidden motivations, untangle behind-the-scenes political machinations, and document the resulting conflict. Through empirical evidence, case studies, and examples, the collection helps develop generalizations and inform best practices for municipal boundary adjustments and reform. The contributors explain how the esoteric aspects of adjustments work in more practical applications, offering political scientists, geographers, municipal officials, and planning practitioners fresh perspectives that contradict much of the prevailing understanding of boundary adjustments. Contributors: Sandeep Agrawal, Cody Gretzinger, John Heseltine, John Meligrana, Jordan Rea, Amrita Singh, Jon Taylor, Zack Taylor. Afterword by Andrew Sancton.

Redrawing Local Government Boundaries

Redrawing Local Government Boundaries
Author: John Meligrana
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780774809344

Local governments today are under extreme pressure to undertake boundary reform. The global trend toward urbanization has brought with it economic, environmental, social, and regional demands that have severe implications for local governments and their territories. As a result, changing the areal jurisdiction of this most basic level of government has become a persistent and pressing challenge around the globe. This collection examines the legal and regulatory procedures involved in such municipal restructuring. Case studies from eight nations - the United States, Canada, Spain, Germany, Israel, Korea, China, and South Africa - investigate how and why local governments have been enlarged in scope and reduced in number within each country. Four key aspects are examined: the geography of the local government boundary problem, the procedures associated with boundary reform, the roles of institutions and actors in boundary reform, and the implications for urban and regional governance. Redrawing Local Government Boundaries offers a broad theoretical understanding of local government boundary reform and informs the wider scholarly discussion about institutional change, state structures, and the areal jurisdiction of local governments. The first international comparative study of local boundary reform, it will be a valuable reference for scholars and students of political science, public administration, geography, urban studies, and urban planning.